Sportspectrum River Cities Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was very happy with this swim. I felt good at the beginning, pushing enough to stay in the draft of the swimmers ahead of me, but not so hard I'd regret it later. I was able to latch on to various pairs of feet throughout the race for some drafting, and my navigation was better than average (for me). I found myself without a draftee occasionally, but only felt I'd gotten off the main line between bouys on a few occasions.

It was long run from the beach to my bike at the far end of the transition area. I probably ran harder than I should (my HR was up as I left transition.) I felt I was pretty smooth with my transition, so I'm a little disappointed with my time here.

If I'd trained more without socks on the run, I would have skipped them here. Since I had to put them on somewhere, I did it in T1, which couldn't have helped.

I pushed pretty hard on the bike, and was surprised when I didn't pass many (if any) in my age group. I brought a gel with me, but stuck with the Amino Vital and water in my bottles. The bike portion went faster than I expected, and I was pleased with my overall effort here.

I ended up with a drafting penalty on the bike, though. Was it justified? No, probably not. (Everybody says that, right?) I had just passed someone, so was going a little faster than my normal pace, when the folks now immediately in front of me started an uphill and the distance between bikes collapsed a little. (So, me going slightly faster than before, and them slowing down.) I was probably only two bike lengths behind instead of three until they started pulling away again very shortly thereafter. I certainly never got close to wheel-hugging, and wasn't trying to stay in this position. But, that's when the motorcycle went by and I saw them writing something down.

Watch the drafting distance.

Loosened shoes a little too early. Eventually had a good dismount, though. I had to run with the bike all the way around transition to get to my rack, but that was no problem.

Looking back (see run section), I probably should have taken a little more time in transition to relax, or even eased up a bit once I had turned back into the park.

What a disappointment! This is probably one of my worst runs. I wasn't very far out of transition when I got a serious cramp on my left side. I tried to run through it, but couldn't. It never completely went away, so even when I started running again, it would build until I had to walk again. I probably had to walk 5 or 6 times, and lost at least 3 minutes here. It was really frustrating to watch lots of folks in my age group pass by when I really should have been able to hold 'em off on a 5k run.

But I'll say thanks to all the racers who tried to be encouraging and push me along. It helped.

Not sure what caused this, so it's hard to diagnose. It wasn't "wobbly legs" from not enough bricks. I don't think it was nutrition. HR too high finishing the bike and through T2? That's my most likely guess.

Just grabbed a drink and walked back up the chute to wait for Teri. Chatted with a few folks I've met at other races. Didn't stretch much. (I know, I know... I should have.)

Food options included the normal bagels, bananas, and oranges, as well as grilled chicked sandwiches, Amino Vital and Red Bull, and a whole collection of Hostess treats -- cupcakes, Twinkees, and ding-dongs. There was plenty of shade. Having beach showers available to rinse off was nice for those of us not going back to a hotel before the drive home.


Only the cramp, really. Otherwise, everything felt good.


It's a large race, but that's part of what makes it great -- all the other athletes, and all the spectators. Everything was well organized, and well executed. It showed that this team has been putting on the race for many years. The race was slightly delayed (~25min, see the comments in the swim section), but everything ran smoothly once we started.

Of course, the goody bag was great. This year's swag included a rolling duffel, 2 t-shirts, sunglasses, running shorts, running socks, canteen-shaped plastic water bottle, a cap (not technical), some Clif Shot samples, and a poster. There were also Finisher medals for those who did.

BT had a good turnout. I only with I could have found more of you on race morning to have said hello.